verb tense agreement

Question

I'm trying to help my father edit a past-tense fictional story, and he keeps starting sentences with phrases containing a present tense verb. I've told him that this is incorrect grammar, but he thinks it is acceptable. Who's correct?

ex: "Driving down the road, my hair moved with the wind."
ex: "Moving across a remote, desolate landscape, I felt isolated in this quiet plain."

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

driving down the road and moving across a ... landscape are presumably the phrases you think contain a present tense verb. This is wrong. You misunderstand the structure. These phrases are called participial phrases. Because of the -ing, you may think they are present tense verbs, but they are not. driving and moving are present participles. They can be used in combination with any tense in the main clause, so there is nothing ungrammatical about combining them with sentences that have past tense verbs.

The only problem with the sentences otherwise is that, in the first one, it sounds like it's saying "My hair was driving down the road" (!!!), because driving down the road occurs just before my hair.

CJ

verb tense agreement

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